I stopped at a
red light on the way home from
work yesterday. It's a fairly new light that just became operational a few weeks ago. It's also in a very awkward place; it's right at the
fork where a four-lane, two-way
road splits into two two-lane, one-way roads. In addition, just thirty yards after the
intersection there's a
lightrail crossing with
trains going by roughly every ten to fifteen minutes, in both directions.
It just so happened that, at this particular time, I was stopped in the right lane at this intersection, while thirty yards ahead of me the crossing guards came down while a train crossed. As I sat there, a minivan zoomed past me in the left lane, blatantly running the red light. I was shocked, and I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I honked. A moment later, a car passed me on the left, and it too ran the red light without even slowing. I honked again.
When the light turned green, I caught up to the car and looked over at the driver. She saw me looking at her and gave me a sheepish "I'm sorry" sort of wave, which I took to mean that she hadn't noticed the light, but that she heard me honk and had realized her mistake. I pulled up next to the minivan at the next intersection. Expecting a similar gesture, I glanced at the driver and was surprised to see that he was flipping me off.
Now, I wonder which of these people will have a happier life?